January 11, 1996
Web posted at: 12:15 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Holly Firfer
RICHMOND, Virginia (CNN) -- A restaurant with an unusual name and an unique flair could only mean that an eccentric chef is at the helm. The restaurant is called The Frog and the Redneck.
Chef Jimmy Sneed is the redneck. "My basic philosophy always has been and still is, prepare simple food, make simple food great. We don't dribble sauces, we don't build pyramids and carve and fan our garnish. It's a very simple presentation, and we concentrate on the quality of the product," Sneed says.
In trademark jeans and cowboy boots, no one would ever guess that the self-proclaimed rockabilly chef studied at one of the world's top cooking schools, The Cordon Bleu in France. And he has studied with some of the great master chefs of our time, including Jean Louis Palladin at the Watergate Hotel and Guether Seeger at the Ritz Carlton.
Palladin is the frog. "We spent the '70s and '80s learning from the French, and now it's evolved into our own style of cuisine. We are all classically trained and have access to the same product and sophisticated clientele. Now, modern American and modern French cuisine are virtually identical," Sneed says.
Sneed's idea of modern American cuisine translates into regional Virginia foods such as grilled tuna with Parmesan butter, saffron pasta and ratatoui. And there is rockfish on redneck caviar -- corn grits with squid ink.
Plus, there's Sneed's signature dish, red pepper soup with jumbo crab meat. "We are so reliant on the local product; fish from the Chesapeake Bay, shitake mushrooms from the King and Queen County, which is just outside of Richmond. Our buffalo comes from Charlottesville, our ham comes from Smithfield," Sneed says.
His laid-back style and ideas of simple food caught the eye of Julia Child, who featured Sneed on her program, "Cooking with the Master Chefs."
But Sneed isn't swayed by celebrity. "This business is first and foremost hard work. It's not glamour, it's not having CNN interview you. It's work, work, work. And if you can please your customers and put out good food night after night, then you have a good restaurant. Doesn't have to be foo foo food, just has to be good."
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